Protective garments or apparel is generally worn in industrial settings, although it may be worn in other environments, such as hospitals, health-care facilities, farms, food processing plants, accident sites, hazardous waste sites, homes or anywhere a person may encounter pathogens, chemicals, dusts, smoke or irritants. These garments are exposed to a variety of hazards, and as a result, typically require sufficient strength to resist tears, rips and puncture.
Materials used to manufacture these garments are often designed to act as a barrier to liquids thereby providing protection from industrial chemicals, pathogens, irritants and the like. In this regard, some fabrics have the ability to act as a barrier to liquids while at the same time remaining "breathable" in the sense that water vapor may pass through the fabric. Breathable materials are often desired in many products such as, for example, in industrial workwear garments because a breathable garment helps prevent the build-up of moisture next to the worker's body, and thus, are generally more comfortable to wear than similar non-breathable apparel. A barrier layer that may be a breathable film or a very fine fiber nonwoven web can provide the breathable barrier properties. However, as the level of breathability increases the strength of the barrier layer typically decreases. Moreover, breathable barrier layers are often materials that have little inherent strength. They tend to be very fragile or easily damaged by abrasion, stretching and/or tearing forces. Additionally, the breathable barrier layers are often heat sensitive and are difficult to thermally bond to other higher-strength materials. Adhesives may be used to join breathable barrier layers with other materials. Unfortunately, adhesives tend to be expensive, may reduce breathability, can lose adhesion when exposed to certain solvents or environments, and may require heat curing that can thermally damage sensitive films. Thus, many breathable fabrics fail to provide sufficient barrier properties and are prone to leak when subjected to intense rain, abrasion, stretching or other harsh conditions.
Accordingly, a fabric that has sufficient strength and provides sufficient breathability and barrier properties will be an improvement over conventional fabrics used in personal protective garments.